'Feed the Turtle' A Glimpse at UMCP Dining Services

By: Angela A. Farris, MA

For three weeks I had the opportunity to rotate with the University of Maryland Dining Services operation. My partner and I were able to learn about a large scale food service operation in College Park, Maryland. We spent the bulk of our time at the South Campus Dining Hall, a hall catering to mostly upperclassmen, working in coordination with dining service staff to serve lunch, track inventory, observe and assist food delivery check-in, tour the bakery and provide an in-service presentation on Alpha Bac 10, a sanitizing agent.

In addition to working in the dining hall we had the chance to meet with several of the Dining Services Associate Directors to learn more about their role and their responsibilities within the organization. Conducting a dining services survey during the lunch hour in South Campus Dining Hall provided the experience of student interaction; one that was enjoyable and informative. We were able to collect 50 surveys about healthy choice dining.

Learning about dining services green initiatives was an exciting part of our time on campus. Touring the rooftop garden, the composting room, and reviewing all of the green initiatives on dining.umd.edu was informative and inspiring. Here are some other tidbits I learned about dining services:

1. Nutrition analysis is available for all menu items sold in the South Campus dining room. Each item also has a description of any allergy that it may contain. These include symbols indicating a food is ‘peanut free’, ‘dairy free’, ‘gluten free’, and also for vegetarian or vegan.
2. Dining services is supportive of sustainability and ‘green’ dining services. There is a page dedicated to each initiative that dining services participates in, for example: reusable carryout, energy and water conservation, and recycling.
3. Dining services offers an extraordinary range of services, from fine dining to ‘to go’ shops to dining halls to catering. There is even a ‘goodies to go’ feature where students or faculty can take items to go for meetings or special events.

Check out UMCP dining services website for more information!

It’s Always a Fun Day at Maryland Day!

By Joyce L. Hornick, Dietetic Intern

 

This past Saturday, April 28 was Maryland Day at the University of Maryland, College Park. If you’re not familiar with Maryland Day, it’s when the college has an open house and invites anyone and everyone. There’s fun for kids, students, parents, really anyone of any age. All of the departments  and clubs host activity booths to show off what they do. The Engineering department shows off fun things for kids like blowing giant smoke rings from a large drum and powering light bulbs by pedaling a bike. The Languages department has a booth where you can write your name in different world languages. Dining Services does cooking demonstrations all day at Hornbake Plaza. Even celebrities like UMD Alumni Joy Bauer, MS, RD, the Dietitian for the Today Show, came to help with a cooking demonstration. And, the School of Agriculture and Natural Resources, which includes the Nutrition and Food Science department takes over the area around the Animal Sciences building and renames it Ag Alley. Besides the chance to get free campus-made ice cream, you can learn about terrapins, insects, native plants, and my favorite, nutrition!

The Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC) had a booth with several MyPlate activities. This was where I got to play. Kids of all ages could show how they can make a healthy meal using very colorful static cling pictures. If they didn’t want to do that, they could use crayons and markers to draw their food on a paper plate. Another favorite was the scratch-n-sniff cards, where you tried to guess a food by its aroma. It was fun to see how many little kids knew their plate should be half fruits and vegetables! A lot of them also knew that chicken nuggets weren’t the healthiest choice for a protein. The best part about an event like this it makes learning about nutrition fun and without feeling like you are in school. 

 

At a nearby booth, some of my fellow interns got to help kids with a different MyPlate activity. Pictured are Lauren, Marion, and Angie, helping at the bean bag toss. The kids got to toss bean bags to match the bean bag color with the same color section of MyPlate. And other interns helped at the University of Maryland Extension booth helping people learn about the benefits and how-to’s of canning.

If you missed Maryland Day this year, you missed out on a lot of fun. Don’t worry, though, it will more than likely be back next year. The event has been going on for many years and it is one of the most anticipated events by everyone. Just keep your calendar open for a Saturday in late April!